Florence Dennis- Illustrator and Surface Pattern Design

How have you remained creative during lockdown?

I’ve been trying to keep creative mainly for my sanity and also for work that I already had pre-lockdown and managed to drag on through the first month or so. Having projects already has been quite helpful to kickstart things but other than that I have really enjoyed having the time to think about new projects and trying out new techniques/learning things with my practice.

How have you found it working from home?

I’m actually someone who works better with less time and more constraints put on myself. So, in terms of having lots of time to make work, I’ve found that it has in some ways made me feel less inclined to be creative. Saying that though, every time that I make myself sit down to do something, I always feel better and enjoy the experience. I think working from home generally can be quite hard, and I definitely felt that when transitioning from university and being around lots of people to bounce your ideas off. Luckily my boyfriend has been working from home, so he has often had to bear the brunt of my many design dilemmas.

Where have you been able to get your inspiration from during lockdown?

I take a lot of my inspiration from everyday activities and things, so this lockdown has really made me think about that. At the beginning I made a series on “things to do in a lockdown” which featured things that you could do from your house to keep busy and that was really fun. I’ve started to now make work about the things that I so miss about the normal world, like going to the shops (sans mask + social distancing) and going to the pub! I’ve been enjoying creating characters that can continue to do these things and vicariously living my old life through them.

Have you been able to designate a space for being creative?

When I graduated from university, I began to work part time freelance at home, so I was lucky to have a designated spare room/studio to work in. As everyone, including my boyfriend, began to work from home we swapped rooms and I set up a temporary space in the living room to work from. I think it’s good to change up your space from time to time though and I’m really enjoying being in here so far, especially for people watching out the window!

Do you have any advice for those people that are getting creative at home during this time?

For me, challenges and prompts always work the best – especially when I am lacking ideas. Sometimes I’ll write a list of things and draw something every day to keep me ticking over and picking up my pencil (or tablet pen) every day. I think as well sometimes it’s nice to draw or do whatever, just for the sake of drawing or (insert creative activity here) and it can be really relaxing when you take the pressure off! So, my advice would be to just dive into something and not think about making it look good but to do it because it feels good to.

@florencepoppydennis